The Secret Servant
|Next_book = }} is the seventh book in the Gabriel Allon series. The daughter of the U. S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is abducted by Muslim terrorists who plan an attack on a famous building. Graham Seymour is introduced. Synopsis Death of a Prophet Professor Solomon Rosner, a Dutch Jew who tracks the activities of radical Muslim groups is assassinated in December in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Gabriel Allon returns to Israel after restoring Lament over the dead Christ by Giovani Bellini for the Vatican. Uzi Navot meets him at the airport and, after bringing him up to date on Office politics, tells him to go to Amsterdam because of Rosner's death. Gabriel and Uzi arrive at Gabriel's apartment, where Ari Shamron is waiting. Shamron tells Gabriel that his mission in Amsterdam is to ensure that there is nothing is Rosner's files to connect him to the Office. He adds that Rosner's assistant Sophie Vanderhaus will meet him and that there will be someone else from the Office to help. Gabriel checks into his hotel and is met by Eli Lavon, who gives him a gun delivered by an Office representative when Eli arrived. Gabriel meets Sophie Vanderhaus, who promptly tells him that she doubts that the man Rosner frequently met was a venture capitalist and believes that "Heller," Gabriel and Eli Lavon represent Israeli intelligence. After some hours of looking through files, Gabriel goes out for takeout food and encounters a man who says he is the person Gabriel is looking for in Rosner's files and that he wants to help. The man identifies himself as Ibrahim Fawaz and says that he was the source of the information that helped the Israelis avoid having one of their airlines shot down by a missile. He also tells Gabriel that a radical Muslim named Samir al-Masri who preaches killing Infidels has disappeared with four other men; he gives Gabriel al-Masri's address. Later, Gabriel and Eli search al-Masri's apartment and learn that he and others departed in a hurry; Gabriel finds a series of photographs, including one of the American Embassy in London and a pad of paper with impressions in the top page. He decides to fly to London to talk with MI5. Gabriel arrives in London and meets with Graham Seymour of MI5. Seymour is sceptical. Gabriel goes on to meet with people at the Israeli embassy and, later, to the Office safe house. The next morning, Gabriel realizes the the scribbling that left the impression on the notepad is a map of Hyde Park in London. He calls Seymour again but Seymour refuses to act. Gabriel calls Adrian Carter, who asks him to respond to the threat. Gabriel arrives too late. Six Americans lie dead in Hyde Park and Elizabeth Halton, the Ambassador's daughter is being abducted. Gabriel kills two of the abductors and fires at the van being used in the abduction. He sees Samir al-Masri lying wounded at the scene. Al-Masri dies as Gabriel is arrested by the police. In Washington, Cyrus Mansfield, the president's national security advisor, notifies the president of the crime. The Land of Strangers The British police were able to track the vans used to abduct Elizabeth until it turned into an alley; the vans were later found abandoned. Gabriel is kept in custody at an MI5 safe house until Robert Halton arranges for him to be released; Halton escorts Gabriel to his flight home. Gabriel tells Halton that Elizabeth fought her abductors. Elizabeth Halton, fighting until she is drugged, is taken by van to a nondescript room where she is kept in shackles. While being held she is asked to provide medical care to one of her abductors, who has been shot. After telling her captors that the man should go to a trauma center, she provides a list of supplies she needs and cautions that if she does not get everything the man will die. Gabriel goes home to Israel, where Ari Shamron tells him that Wazir al-Zayyat, an Egyptian official, has information about the abduction. Gabriels asks to meet al-Zayyat in Cyprus in lieu of Shimon Pazner. Gabriel goes to the apartment he shares with Chiara Zolli and they talk about their future together. Gabriel asks Chiara to come to Cyprus with him. Elizabeth's captors provide the medical supplies she requested. From the packaging, she verifies that she is still in the United Kingdom. She treats the wounded man and is taken back to her cell. The captors tell her they have a gift for her, then inject her with the dangerous sedative they had used before. In Cyprus Wazir al-Zayyat tells Gabriel that Elizabeth Halton's abduction is designed to free a high-ranking terrorist from United States' custody and that it is a joint operation between al-Qaeda and the Sword of Allah. He adds that the man driving the operation is known as The Sphinx. Gabriel goes through documents left by al-Zayyat and finds a reference to Ibrahim Fawaz of Amsterdam. In Paris, Yusuf Ramadan passes instructions to his field operatives through Nidal Mutawalli. A message is received on the hot line at the American Embassy to look under a boat on a beach some distance from London. The search reveals a DVD whose existence is revealed only to senior officials. Gabriel flies to the United States on a CIA aircraft and is taken to CIA headquarters to meet with Adrian Carter, who shows him the contents of the DVD from the beach. Four masked men stand with Elizabeth Halton. One reads a statement from the Sword of Allah demanding the release of Sheikh Abdullah Abdul-Razzaq in exchange for Elizabeth's life. Gabriel tells Adrian the Ibrahim Fawaz was one of the early organizers of the Sword of Allah. They discuss the Sphinx. Gabriel agrees to apprehend Ibrahim in the Netherlands and interrogate him if the prime minister agrees. Carter wants a CIA representative present and offers Sarah Bancroft. A young Muslin man with a van travels from England to France via ferry as a deception ploy. Sarah Bancroft joins Gabriel on the CIA aircraft and he tells her about Ibrahim Fawaz as they fly to Tel Aviv. Upon arrival, they are re-united with Gabriel Allon's Team. Gabriel tells the group that they are going to abduct Ibrahim Fawaz and interrogate him without errors. By the end of the day, they had acquired all the support they needed and broke into groups to travels to Europe. In Cairo, Hussein Mandali meets with Tayyib Abdul-Razzaq, who preaches a sermon into a cassette recorder. Mandali takes the recording with him to begin distribution. In Amsterdam, Gabriel, Sarah and Eli plan the abduction of Fawaz. Gabriel remembers Fawaz's aversion to homosexual men and decides to take him after confronting him with two gay men; he decides Mikhail and Yaakov will play the parts. In Washington, D.C., the existence of the DVD leaks. Melissa Stewart tells Nicholas Scanlon that she knows the Sword of Allah has Elizabeth Halton. She threatens to air the information unless she gets an interview with the President of the United States. The President accepts Scanlon's advice and announces in the briefing room the the Sword wants Abdullah Abdul-Razzaq released in return for Elizabeth's freedom; he adds that the demand will not be met. Adrian Carter is watching the announcement when he is joined by Shepard Cantwell, the deputy director for intelligence of the CIA, who tells Adrian that his information leads him to believe that the demanmd for Abdullah's release is false and what the Sword and Abdullah's brother really want is a revolution in Egypt. Cantwell recommends that the national threat level be raised to the highest level. In Amsterdam, Gabriel and his team abduct Fawaz. The Sacrifice of Isaac Gabriel interrogates Ibrahim Fawaz in Oldenburg, Germany. Sarah Bancroft participates to lend credence to Gabriel's claim that Fawaz is in the hands of the CIA. Fawaz tells about the beginnings of the Sword of Allah and about his and his daughter's torture at the hands of Egyptian security officials. In Norfolk, England, the body of the abductor whose life Elizabeth Halton tried to save is found on a beach. In one of the corpse's trouser pockets is a receipt for ferry transportation to France. Fawaz tells Gabriel that he was held by security officials for six months and that his daughter was raped to death. After losing his position as a teacher, he moved to Amsterdam. He tried to explain the pitfalls of radical Islamism to his son Ishaq, who lives in Copenhagen. His attempt failed and Ishaq became more politicized. He was one of the men who abducted Elizabeth Halton. Ishaq calls home every night at his son's bedtime. Three shaheeds detonate bombs at the international airports in Zurich, Madrid and Vienna. Yusuf Ramadan was retained as a consultant by a French television station. He says that the United States had better open communication with the Sword of Allah. Adrian Carter flies to Copenhagen to meet with Gabriel and others, including Sarah Bancroft. He tries to take control of Ibrahim Fawaz away from the Office, but Gabriel refuses to comply with his plan. Adrian ends up agreeing with Gabriel. In Egypt, Wazir al-Zayyat enters the Scorpion prison. He interrogates Hussein Mandali to learn where he acquired the audio tape on which Tayyib Abdul-Razzaq refers to the abduction of Elizabeth Halton. Mandali lies to al-Zayyat and al-Zayyat leaves him in the custody of the torturers. The Office sets up a monitoring station in a Copenhagen hotel. As predicted by Ibrahim Fawaz, Ishaq does call home on schedule. Hussein Mandali breaks. He confesses to having been present when Tayyib Abdul-Razzaq recorded his sermon in an apartment in a building owned by a Saudi Arabian prince. Police arrive at the building soon after the apartment was vacated. Wazir al-Zayyat calls the Scorpion prison and orders that Mandali be eliminated. Gabriel listens to the recording of Ishaq's call. Ishaq tells his wife Hanifah that he wants her to fly to Beirut the coming Friday. They argue and Ishaq agrees to call the next night. Gabriel tells Sarah Bancroft that Ishaq is at a rest stop in northwestern Germany with at least one other man and that they are moving Elizabeth Halton around in a van. Lawrence Strauss offers Abdullah Abdul-Razzaq a way out of prison if he will issue a fatwa calling for Elizabeth Halton's release. Abdullah refuses. Adrian Carter meets with Lars Mortensen of Denmark's Security Intelligence Service and tells him that members of the Office, including Gabriel Allon, have entered Denmark in hot pursuit of Elizabeth Halton's abductors at the request of the CIA. Mortensen is initially angry and demands that all the Israelis except Gabriel leave the country. Upon meeting Gabriel, Mortensen relents and allows all to remain. The Danes arrest Hanifah Fawaz and her son Ahmed. Mortensen is in the conference room at tyhe CIA station in Copenhagen when the telephone attached to the line that normally terminates at Ishaq Fawaz's apartment rings. Gabriel talks to Ishaq by phone twice and tells him that, if Elizabeth Halton is not released, Hanifah and Ahmed will be flown to Cairo for interrogation. Ishaq agrees to release Elizabeth to his father Ibrahim somewhere in Denmark and to call the next day with details. Elizabeth Halton ponders her captivity. She has no idea how much time has elapsed since she was abducted. She only knows that she is fed four times at each stop then given an injection of ketamine to prepare her for the next move. She awaits her fourth meal. Gabriel and Ibrahim Fawaz walk a long street while the terrorists look for counter-surveillance. They return to their car and Ishaq calls Gabriel to issue limited instructions. Gabriel begins the journey. Elizabeth has her fourth meal then forces herself to regurgitate. When the abductors arrive to give her an injection she tells them that the ketamine is making her sick. They agree to move her without giving her the drug but warn her that they will kill her if she tries to alert anyone. She agrees. On Funen Island, Gabriel receives instruction to drive to a cemetery in far northern Denmark. Upon looking where he was directed in Lindholm, he finds more instructions send him south to Kandestederne. Elizabeth Halton suffers while being transported to her new location in a box inside a van. Upon arrival, she knows she is near the sea. In Kandestederne, a woman with a pistol enters the car and forces Ibrahim to accompany her. Ibrahim meets a man whose hair is dyed blond. He is led inside a cottage. An explosion follows. The Bridge over Jahannam A Wedding by the Lake Elizabeth Halton returns to the United States and the agents from the Office return to Israel. The cover story breaks down and Gabriel is recognized from a photograph of the shooting outside Westminster Abbey. The Israeli government refuses to make Gabriel available to testify anywhere. Gabriel visits Leah and she tells him to marry Chiara. Ari Shamron tells Gabriel to make his wedding to Chiara a surprise for her. Gabriel's team plans his wedding to Chiara, keeping her in the dark. They marry at Ari Shamron's home. Adrian Carter gives Gabriel a check for ten million dollars from Robert Carlyle Halton. Gabriel declines at first then decides he can use the money to pay informants to track down the Sphinx. Gabriel flies to Cairo and stays at the same hotel at which he stayed when searching for Khaled al-Khalifa; Mr. Katubi, the concierge, expects the same ill-mannered "Herr Klemp" but is amazed at how polite Klemp has become. Gabriel leaves the hotel and meets Mikhail Abramov and Mordecai. Together they execute Yusuf Ramadan. Questions Commentary * Headlines in the synopsis are from the book.